January visitors

Last Thursday afternoon, my Mom & her sister, Ronda, flew in for a long weekend visit.  Man was it good to see them!  We had a wonderful time together.  This is the first my Mom met #babyB & #babyS.  
They were a huge help to me & Jake.  They played constantly with the kids (the girls love to play doggie & kitty, as in A.L.L. weekend they wanted to play doggie & kitty. Mom & Aunt Ronda were good sports & patient too!). They also changed many diapers and took the baby TWO night.  Yes, I had 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep.  It was amazing!

Unfortunately it was pretty cold & rainy most of the weekend.  The sun came out on Sunday so we bundled up & headed to the  beach to look for seashells.  Sunday night Mom & Ronda watched the kids so Jake & I could go out on a date.

THANK YOU, Mom & Aunt Ronda for coming to visit.  We loved every minute.  We appreciate you using your vacation to be a blessing & help to our family.  We love you!

celebrating 33

On Saturday I turned 33! Yowza, that sounds old. 

Jake started the celebrating a week ago.... Last Saturday morning we went out on a breakfast date.  We went to a yummy crepe's place & then did a little bit of birthday shopping.  We brought #babyS with us so we didn't overwhelm the babysitter.  She slept through most of the date. Jake also let me know that he was going to do dishes, from dinner, AND baths all week.  Now that's celebrating!

Saturday morning Jake made pancakes for breakfast.  Everyone had candle in their stack of pancakes. The kids pancakes were shaped like Mickey Mouse.

Jake sent me & the girls out for pedicures.  I got the real pedicure, while the girls got their toes painted for $5 and they loved every single minute.  Hey, so did I! 

It is really fun doing more things as they get older. It's also a light at the end of the tunnel when we still have babies and littles in our home. A few weeks ago Jake compared our life to the movie Groundhog Day.  We've been stuck in the baby stage for the past 5 1/2 years.  We laughed & laughed.  It's so true, but we're still thankful even when sleep deprived.

We had some cards & presents.  Later that afternoon Jake & the girls made me a birthday cake (That was entertaining! I'll skip those details as to now throw anyone under the bus.).  Sunday afternoon we went out for lunch to celebrate some more.  

Thanks to my sweet family for making my birthday special.

sibling love

This smiley guy is 16 months old.

His sweet sister will be 6 weeks on Saturday.

We are so happy we can love on them while they're in our home & part of our family.

one month

#babyS is one month old today

Weighing in at 8 lb 2 oz & 19.75 inches.

the holidays at our house

Since this blog is also our family photo album-journal-scrapbook, I can't just totally skip Christmas. Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures Christmas day.  I know, that's horrible, but here's my justification (or excuse).  

Let's back up to Christmas Eve. Around 4 am that morning Lily came into our room saying her belly hurt, but then no complaints at all that morning (just minor irregularities, if you know what I mean).  After lunch, Lily started complaining her belly hurt really bad & then THE stomach bug hit. It wasn't pretty at all.  We had to stay home from our Christmas Eve service & cancel dinner plans with our dear sweet friends for after the service.  I was so bummed. The stomach bug was The Grinch this year.

Christmas morning we decided to take it slow. Thankfully the stomach bug vacated our home.  As it left I bleached the bathrooms right behind it.  We had a lovely day as a family reading the Christmas story, opening gifts and playing at the park since it was mid-70's. We decided to keep our Christmas evening plans and friends came over for dessert. Thankfully Becky snapped at least one picture of our little kids & their big kids!

Saturday morning we met friends for breakfast & then we all hit the beach.  YES, our kids wore swimsuits, swam & got soaked the day AFTER Christmas.  It was great!  

For New Year's we headed to Charlottesville, VA to visit our friend's the Otto's.  We had such a fun time.  Their 6 kids and our 4 kids played great! We enjoyed playing outside, feeding their chickens, walks with their new puppy, many fun meals around the table & we adults stayed up late talking every night.

 I am so thankful for this sweet friend. Our husbands even took the kids Saturday morning so Aili & I could have a coffee date.

Reflections on 2015

When Jake & I reflected back on 2015 it was amazing to see God's blessings in the life of our family.  I just had to write down all these gifts, from God, throughout this past year.

• adding #babyB to our family
• God giving Jake a new job
• Meg being home full-time this entire year
• God leading our family to a new church
• adding #babyS to our family

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)